Study on the Influence of Nozzle Ablation on the Performance of the Solid Rocket Motor

As a key component of the solid rocket motor, nozzle ablation is very important to the performance of the motor. In order to study the influence of the law of nozzle ablation on motor performance, a two-dimensional axisymmetric model of a ground state nozzle and vacuum state nozzle before and after ablation was constructed on the basis of a reference profile, and the change law of pressure, temperature and velocity with ablation were studied. The comprehensive performance of the nozzle before and after ablation was calculated to evaluate the influence of ablation on motor performance. It was found that the profile ablation changed the shock wave distribution in the flow field of the expansion section, and the appearance of the ablation step also led to a new internal shock wave. The gas was compressed, and the flow direction, velocity, pressure, temperature, etc., were changed. After the ablation, the temperature and pressure of the nozzle outlet location increased, the velocity decreased, and the total thrust and specific impulse decreased.

Automated summary

Nozzle ablation is crucial for the performance of solid rocket motor. In this study, a two-dimensional axisymmetric model of a ground state and vacuum state nozzle before and after ablation was constructed based on a reference profile to investigate the influence of ablation on motor performance. The change in pressure, temperature, and velocity with ablation was studied, and the comprehensive performance of the nozzle was calculated. The results showed that ablation altered the shock wave distribution and introduced new internal shock waves, leading to changes in flow direction, velocity, pressure, and temperature. After ablation, the nozzle outlet temperature and pressure increased, while the velocity, total thrust, and specific impulse decreased.